Electric battery



Dec. 9, 1924 S. B'. PACK ELECTRIC BATTERY Original Filed Nov` 18, 1919 51 'muon To z Patented 'Dee 9, 1924.

SAMUEL B. PACK, F WASHINGTON, DISTRICT 0F COLUMBIA.

ELECTRIC BATTERY.

appncaaon mea November 1s, 1919, semina. V338,916. neuwied February 15, 19'23,

To all 'whom 'it may concern."

Be it known that l, SAMUEL B. PACK, a citizen of the United States, residing at 'ashington, District of Columbia, have in- Avented certain new and useful llnproyements in Electric Batteries, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to electric batteries, and particularly to storage or secondary batteries. It has for its object to utilize ironl in novel form and manner in the manufacture and operation of such batteries, whereby there is a lessening of the cost of the battery, a decrease in its weight, and an increase in its efliciency and capacity. It is a known fact that cast iron when brought to a red heat, say from MIN) to 1700 degrees F. and thcnrooled, takes on a certain degree of permanent expansion and that. this expansion by repeated beatings andcoolings may be [carried forward sutliciently to enlarge the mass of metal so treated to a veryconsiderable extent, from 40 to tlper cent-,enlargement havingr been secured. In my a-pplicatio1rii128258, Filed October Q5, 1916, I have described a method by which this permanent expansion of cast iron may be practically. expeditiously and economically performed, and by which the metal thus expanded may have imparted to it certain novel and very important. characteristics.

The cast iron so expanded becomes uniformly :rnd highly porous so that it may be readily permeated by fluids and other inaterials, and this quality of the metal is availed of in carrying out the process described inrmy aforesaid application. as it also is iifprfticing the invention which I shall herein describe. I have discovered that permanently heat-expanded cast iron may be used in the construction of electric batteries both storage and primary, to great, advantage, and that its presence, when properly utilized, tends to give long li-fe to the battery to increase its capacit-y and to maintain its elcctromotive force at a high degree for unusually long periods. As illustrative of one method of practicing my present. invention I take al piece of perma'nently heat-expanded cast iron of suitable shape, as, for instance, a thin plate or a cylinder, and use this as one element of a secondary battery, after it has been subject to va forming process, lin which it, is one electrode, a lead plate the other, and an alkaline electrolyte is employed. During the forming process lead is deposited upon the iron electrode covering not. only Aits exterior surfaces but the.4 interior surfaces of its pores and channels as well, with a coating which intimately adheres thereto. I thus form an element for a secondary battery in which highly porous expanded iron is the supportingbase or plate. Using this as the negative element of a storage battery and a pasted peroxidized leadv plate as thefpositive element, and employing ehromic and alkaline solution, with the addition of a small proportion of sulphuric acid as an' electr lyte, satisfactory results have been obtained. The iron of the negative element is acted on only .by the cliromio solution, and being Y coated with -a lead depositl the deterioration of the iron through the' action ofthe electrolyte -is' revented. The nature of the iron is suc1,being extremely porous and carrying lead on the inside walls of its pores and channels aswell as on its expos surfaces, that an extraodinarily large 'rea of active material is subject to the action of the electrolyte. -Moreov`er, this electrode is carried by a support that affords4 convenent pa'ths to carry and distribute the electric current, so that the electrical, andconsequent chemical, action of the batte is so distributed that theentiie amount o active material can be utilized in a remarkably uniform and ellicacious manner. This gives a '.high degree of capacity to the battery.

Another manner 'of carrvine' out the invention, especially when a dry cell form of secondary battery isdesired, is as follows: Highly heatedexpandedcast iron inv a finely divided condition, such as produced by the use of a coarse file. is mixed 4with lead.oxide, preferably the peroxide and graphite. The proportions that Il have found suitable are one Dart each of the powdered ironand graphite toeight pay s of lead oxide. These are mixed'toget'er and formed into a paste` which is used in producing the Inegative element of the battery. The mixture for the positivo element which I prefer to use is powdered metal, one part, powdered charcoal, one part, and lead oxide, fouteen parts, rpreferably using red lead and litharge in approximately equalv proportions. These are initimately mixed and formed into a. paste. These two compounds are then treated in a forming process, which may be of any usual or preeater e ferred character, until they are brought to proper condition toy be placed in the battery: l Y The particles of iron, intimately and uniformly mixed through the mass of lead oxide, constitute a binder therefor, each Particle bein intimately united vto the lead oxide imme iately surrounding it. Each particle forms an electric vconductor so at the internal resistance of the elemen is low, 'and throughout its entire mass there are formed paths for the ready transmission of electricit and also for the action of the electrolyte ue to the highly porous nature of the metal particles. Due, as I believe, to the nature of the iron used and the manner in which it is associated with the active material of the batterv.-meani n.f r the lead oxide or the spongy lead- I have been enabled to obtain many repeated discharges of high amperage from the battery .in quick succession. without the battery heating` and with a very slow fall in voltage. The bat- .of the metal tery recuperates with extraordinary quicle ness.

I believe that some electrochemical action takes place in the iron` which through its heat treatment has lost most of its impurities and has become partlv transformed into protoxide of iron. I am led to this belief from the nature of the action ofthe battery, as the presence of the iron increases both the capacity and the F. of the battery, maintains high voltage discharges for an extraordinarily lonaI period and repeated number of times` as well as maintains the battery in action at ldw'voltage for very long periods. Its presence also prevents the reversing of`the polarity of the elements under any conditions of use and test to which I have been able to subect the battery. This electrochemical action, which is in the nature of agalvanic excitement, I believe is the result of the action of the protoxide of iron against the lead coating, produced through the conductivity of the chromic crystals.

The proportions of the mixtures that I have indicated in describing the drv cell secondary battery are those from which I have obtained the most satisfactorv results. butthey may be "aried both in pro ortion and composition and still many of t e features of the invention retained. For instance, other forms of carbon than those described may be used, or the cabon element, which is inert so far as chemical effects are concerned, may be omitted altogether.

Another way of using the expanded iron in a battery is to impregnate thin plates with a suitable active material, such as lead oxide. This mav be done bv immersing the expanded iron when red hot in a bath of the molten oxide or other material, or by electrolysis.

Also, the expanded cast iron may be used in the form of a grid; and the lead oxide or other-active material pasted on the grid, similar to the Wellknown Faurel pasted plate construction.

In making the dry cell battery that I have described I prefer to construct it. as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, Figs. 1 and 2, where a form of cell that gives` large surface areas in small space is illustrated.

Figure 1 of such drawings is a top plan view of an electric battery cell embodying my improvements.

`Figure 2 is a vertical section thereof.

Figure 3 is a view of a grid for a storage battery made from the expanded cast iron herein described.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, 2 indicates al containingvessel, preferably square in cross section, and 4formed of sheet lead. 'ithin this vessel are a series tric perforated lead cylinders, 3, 3', 32, 3, ete., more or less of these being used as may be found convenient, and as the size of the battery may suggest. Adjacent cylinders, as 3, 3- and 32, 3", are united at their lower ends, as indicated in Fig. 2, these united pairs of cylinders forming annular cups cl0sed`at thev bottom but open at their upper ends, in which is placed the active material of the battery. Between the adjacent cups containing active material are arrange-d perforated insulating septi 4, which may be formed of perforated hard rubber bent' into cylindrical form. The spaces between the active material-containing cups is occupied by the electrolyte, which is pre-ferably dilute sulphuric acid. The active material constituting the positive elementof the battery, indicated by 6, ,is preferably placed in the first and third, counting from the outside in the arrangement shown in the drawings, cups of the battery, while the active material constituting the negative element, designated by 7, is placed in the second and innermost or of concen central cup. In the middle of the central,

innermost' cup, is located a rod of lead, 5, which constitutes part of the negative element of the battery, as does also the outer containing vessel 2. If it be found desirable toincrease the amount of active material serving as the negative element of the battery it may be placed in the '.corners of the outer containing vessel, as indicated at 7, where it is retained 'by perforated plates 11 of lead, secured at their outer edges to the inner walls of the vessel 2 'and at their lower edges to the bottom of such vessel. The several masses of active material and their containers, constituting respectvely the positive .and ne tive Aelements of the batter are united y conductors, that uniting t positive elements being designated 8, and that connecting the negative elements, 10. The conductor 8 is provided with a terminal 9 for the external circuit, and the conductor unitiin,r the negative elements with a connection t3 for the. other terminal of such circuit'. 'lh'ese last referred to parts may be of usual or preferred construction.

The lower ends of the cups or containeis for the active material of the battery -reSt upon insulating?r supports 12 that serve to hold them above the bottom of the easing 2 in order to facilitate circulation of the electrolyte.

A batteiy cell constructed as described provides large surface area of active material; it malies provision for the use of aetive material of the kind described herein, which may be easily packed into the eii'ps formed by the concentric cylinders 3; and is relatively cheap in construction as the pla-tes 3 may be easily punched and shaped to form the retainingr cups.

lt will be understood that the containing vessel 2 when formed of lead should ho encased by wood or other insulating material to prevent short circiiiting when sev-` eral of the cells are placed in proximity to constitute/ a battery.

'hen a cell of the form described is used as a drv cell the electrolyte employed is preferably of jello or some other semitliiid forni, and the upper ends ot' the spaces occupied by the electrolyte and of the cups containing the active material, are Closed' bv cement in the, usual manner.

.While lA have described the use of expanded cast iron in combination with lead or lead oxides. in a battery, it is to be understood that l do not limit myself to this combination, but may use the expanded castI iron in combination or association with other materials, and may use other solutions than chromic a-nd alkaline solutions as the electrolyte.

lVhat I claim is:

1. An electric battery having as an element porous heabexpanded cast; iron.

2. An electric battery having incorporated in one of its elements linely divided heat-expanded cast iron.

3. A secondary battery havimgir incorporated in the active material thereof tinely divided porous heat-expanded cast iron.

4. A secondary electric battery having lead oxide as an active material and a metal ther than lead in tinelydivided form mixed with the activo material` the lead oxide being,l intimately united with the said other metal which serves as a conductor of electricity and electric energy throughout. the mass of the active material.

A secondary electric battery havingr lead o-Xide as an active material and iron in finely divided form mixed with he active material, the lead oxide being intimately united with the, said iron which serves as a conductor of electricitvend electrii energy throughout the mass of the active .nati-rial.

ti. A secondary electric battery having lead oxide :is an active material and heat-cx panded highly porous cast iron in tinelv divided form mixed with the active material. the lead oxide being intimately united with the said heat-expanded highlyporous cast iron which serves :is a conductor of electricity and'electric. energy. throughout the uniss of the active material.

i'. A cell having' a secondary electric battery consistingr of a series of concentric 'ani nular cups the walls of which are perforated. active material in paste t'orm constituting respectively the positive and negative elements of the battery plated in the said cups, the cups being.Y separated from each other to allow free spaeesl'or the electrolyte and insulating septi between the cups.

N. cell for secondary electric batteries comprising an outer eontainintr lead vessel constituting part of the nega-tive clement of the battery, :i series of clips for containin;r the active material of the battery arranged in the said containing lead vessel and formed of pairs of concentric perforated lead cylinders united at. their lower ends, active material in paste forni, l'or the positive and negative elements of the battery, respectively7 placed alternately in the said cups, insulating means between the said cups, and electric conductors uniting the containers for the positive. and the negative elements of the battery, respectively.

t). An electric battery element havin as an element iron, a portion of which has been changed to the protoxide of such metal.

10. An electric battery element of iron, a portion of which has been changed'to the protoxide of such metal 4rind having iiitimately united therewith le. d oxide as an active material.

1l. An 'electric battery element consistingof a highly porous metal serving as a sup# porting and conducting base the exposed siii-faces and the walls of the poresof which are coated with the active material of the battery.

12. An electric battery element consisting of a highly porous iron as a'supporting and conducting base, the exposed surfaces and the Vwalls of' the pores ot" which are coated with lead to serve as the. active elenient of the battery.

SAMUEL B. PACK. 

